March 05, 2025
Shannon Sophy/Courtesy of the Mann Center
Chef Cristina Martínez will host an event June 4 at the Mann Center. The audience will get to hear her story, eat her food and participate in a fandango dance party.
South Philly chef Cristina Martínez will take over the Mann Center for one night, sharing her story with audiences as she serves up tacos, corn salad and drinks.
The chef behind South Philly Barbacoa and Casa México will host a discussion and dance party, plus a cooking demonstration of the food that gained her national recognition. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday for the event, which will be June 4 at 8 p.m.
Admission is $72 and includes a meal of tacos, esquites, tres leches, chips and guacamole, and aguas frescas, all made by Martínez. The 200-person event also features live music from Interminable, a Philly band that plays jazz, rock and traditional Mexican music. After dinner, Son Revoltura will play Mexican folk music and lead a fandango dance party.
Martínez, who's from Capulhuac, Mexico, will share her culinary journey as she prepares the food onstage. She came to the United States in 2009 and was fired from her job as a pastry chef at Amis for being undocumented. After that, she started building South Philly Barbacoa from her house and became an immigration advocate. Since then, she's earned a James Beard Award, received national recognition and appeared in episodes of "Chef's Table" and "Ugly Delicious" on Netflix.
The event takes place Downstage at the Mann for a more up-close setting, organizers said.
Wednesday, June 4
8 p.m. | $72 plus processing fees
The Mann Center
5201 Parkside Ave., Philadelphia
